1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods that employ sticky dental compositions used in combination with passive-type dental trays for treating a person's teeth and gums. The novel dental compositions may include one or more of a variety of different dental agents and are preferably used in combination with a thin-walled, comfortable fitting dental tray in order to provide prolonged treatment of a patient's teeth and/or gums for a desired period of time.
2. The Relevant Technology
Most people have experienced a variety of tooth and/or gum ailments at sometime in their lives. In addition, some have sought to cosmetically enhance the appearance of their teeth through bleaching. Bleaching compositions typically include a bleaching agent such as hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide dispersed within a low viscosity carrier.
Other medicaments for treating teeth and gums include desensitizing agents for treating painful or sensitive teeth, anticariogenic agents for treating or preventing the formation of cavities, and antimicrobial agents used to fight dental and gum diseases.
The foregoing compositions are typically applied directly to a person's teeth. In some cases, such as in the case of dental bleaching compositions, such compositions can be loaded within a dental tray.
Conventional dental trays, including those specifically adapted for delivering a medicament to a person's teeth, as well as mouthguards used to protect a person's teeth while playing sports, remain in place by means of mechanical pressure exerted by the dental tray onto the person's teeth. Unfortunately, the exertion of mechanical pressure onto a person's teeth can create significant discomfort and cause a disincentive for continuing a tooth treatment regimen.
For example, dental trays such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. Re 34,196 to Munro are adapted to be held in place by mechanical fit and provide a liquid-tight seal over the person's gums in order to for the tray to retain a generally non-viscus bleaching composition against a person's teeth. Like dental trays that exert mechanical pressure onto a person's teeth, dental trays such as those disclosed in Munro, which are specifically designed to be self-retaining such that they will remain in place due to mechanical fit by creating a liquid-tight seal about a person's gums, can result in significant discomfort and result in diminished desire to complete a dental treatment regimen.
As set forth in the parent applications identified above, e.g., U.S. application Ser. No. 07/497,934, the inventor has developed flexible, thin-walled dental trays that exert little or no significant mechanical pressure on a person's teeth when in place to provide a more comfortable fit. The inventive dental trays optionally include reservoirs for providing more of a dental composition against one or more of the person's teeth. Furthermore, the dental tray can alternatively be configured to overlap a portion of the person's gums or it may be trimmed at or below the gingival margin in order to maintain the dental composition away from the person's gums. In either scenario, the inventive dental trays exert little or no significant mechanical pressure onto the person's teeth or gums so that the trays are more pleasant to use.
Unfortunately, since the comfortable dental trays exert little or no significant mechanical pressure onto a person's teeth or gums, the dental trays may not reliably remain in place over, or otherwise be dislodged from a person's teeth, thereby interrupting or disturbing the treatment regimen. Conventional dental compositions used with tight fitting trays which provide their own mechanical gripping mechanism are not intended for use with the inventive, comfortable fitting, thin-walled trays set forth and, e.g, U.S. application Ser. No. 07/497,934. Hence, such dental compositions have not heretofore been formulated with the necessary adhesive action. Similarly, since desensitizing agents used in dental office are non-sticky, nonviscous fluids while toothpaste can include other dental agents, are not adapted for use with dental trays, there has not heretofore existed a dental composition for treating teeth and gums that could be used in conjunction with the comfortable fitting dental trays developed by the inventor.
It would be an improvement in the art to provide compositions for treating teeth and/or gums that were sufficiently sticky and resistant to dilution by saliva such that they had the ability to adhere and retain a flexible, thin-walled dental tray in place against a person's teeth, wherein the dental tray did not exert significant mechanical pressures onto the person's teeth or gums and was not designed to stay in place over a person's teeth due to mechanical fit.
It would be a further improvement in the art to provide sticky dental compositions that allowed for more secure and reliable contact between the active dental agent and a person's teeth and/or gums in order to provide more reliable and complete treatment of a person's teeth and/or gums.
Additionally, it would be a significant advancement in the art to provide dental compositions for treating teeth that could be adapted for use by disabled or semi-debilitated people who may not have the strength, coordination or ability to brush their teeth without the assistance of others.
It would be a tremendous advancement in the art if such dental compositions included a sticky matrix material that could be used in conjunction with a variety of dental agents for providing a variety of different treatments of a person's teeth and/or gums.
Such compositions including a sticky matrix for treating a person's teeth are disclosed and claimed herein.